‘Total disconnect’ between NSHA and staff at Valley hospital
Posted Jan 18, 2020 04:35:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
This week, three physicians at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville announced they will be either leaving or significantly reducing their hours.
Doctors Rob Miller, Rebecca Brewer and Keith MacCormick all operate out of the emergency department, but have faced increasing difficulties lately that they say the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) have refused to resolve.
“We've been trying for over a decade to get some movement on safety issues, particularly surrounding overcrowding, over capacity, and orphan patients,” says Dr. Rob Miller, speaking to NEWS 95.7's The Todd Veinotte Show.
Miller explains that about a year ago, the Valley Regional Emergency Physician Association (VREPA), began the process of trying to implement change.
“They've ignored our concerns,” he says. “We had an external review of the department. They didn't implement the recommendations that were there, so we felt we had no choice.”
Miller, who has been working in the emergency room at Valley Regional since 2005, says there has been such an increase in patients that means some are being treated in kitchens, hallways, and supply closets.
“We were at 559 per cent saturation on March 6. That is like putting 60,000 people into the Metro Centre. The Fire Marshal would shut it down,” he explains.
According to Miller, there has been a 265 per cent increase in patients in the past five years. During the same time, five physicians have left the hospital.
In response, the NSHA says the issue is not isolated to Valley Regional.
“Valley Regional does experience overcrowding. This is not unique to our emergency department alone, it's not ideal but it is a symptom of a broader issue affecting the health system in Canada,” says a representative in an emailed statement.
The NSHA said it's “disappointing” to see physicians leave the hospital, but that the NSHA has been working with the emergency department team since June 2019 to improve things.
“We have a working group in place which has successfully implemented 17 of the 25 recommendations that come from an external review. Everyone on the team is pleased with the progress and is moving on in the spirit of collaboration and quality improvement,” reads the statement.
But Miller says he was fed up and wasn't willing to leave quietly.
“We could've left like the other two and very quietly got other jobs elsewhere, but there was public safety issues here that we couldn't walk away from,” he says of himself and the other two doctors who recently announced their departure.
Miller says that infighting is causing even physicians who were long-time colleagues to fight, and that the NSHA administration has been disrespectful towards front-line staff.
“There's a complete and total disconnect between the NSHA leadership and the front line health care workers,” he adds. One of the big recommendations of the external review that we had is that we were to be treated as equal partners. The physicians group and the NSHA leaders at the site. And they would have none of that.”
In the end, Miller says the physicians want to have a real discussion, not to put a positive spin on the issues.
“They think it's about talking happy and talking positively. But it's not, problems don't get fixed by talking positively and putting a positive spin on them. They get fixed by talking truth, and they do not want to talk truth,” he says.
However, if the NSHA corrects what Miller and the other physicians see as “fundamental flaws,” Miller says he will return to his position.
“If they met those conditions and treated the physicians as an equal partner, we would be back there tomorrow,” he says.
